South Coffeyville, OK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: South Coffeyville lacked spaces for cultural engagement and healthy food access, leaving older adults isolated and youth disconnected from heritage. To address this, the organization created a year-round community garden using Cherokee Nation heirloom seeds for a Three Sisters planting, adding raised beds, benches and solar lighting. Elders taught youth traditional gardening methods, fostering intergenerational bonds and reducing isolation. Harvests included corn, squash, tomatoes and herbs, and plans for food preservation workshops will extend the impact. At the ribbon-cutting, one attendee called it "a wonderful way for both our elders and youth to work together."

Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.

Mobile, AL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Victory Teaching Farm in midtown Mobile is an urban teaching farm that aims to teach locals the benefits of growing their own food in a sustainable way. This project built a garden deck designed to be accessible for people with disabilities. The deck features a ramp for those who use wheelchairs, along with raised garden beds of various heights. Victory joined with AARP Alabama for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in December 2017, and a large group of adults with disabilities and special needs participated. Since then, Victory Teaching Garden continues to promote urban gardening for everyone with events. This included hosting a virtual What's Growing On advice session with AARP Alabama in March 2022.

South Tucson, AZ

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: The Primavera Foundation improved the La Capilla neighborhood's community garden by building raised bed planters, adding ADA-compliant benches and making garden walking paths more accessible. In addition, the Foundation purchased ergonomic and adaptive tools, since the majority of residents who use the garden are older adults, often accompanied by their grandchildren. The garden improvements coincided with the City of South Tucson's Greenway Redevelopment Project, which brought public art to the neighborhood. To celebrate local residents' heritage, project organizers also installed a walking path to a mural located next to the garden. That mural -- created by student artists -- pays homage to the Yaqui and Mexican American cultures. Since this project's completion, the Foundation has made similar upgrades to another community garden.